'Dancing With the Stars' hits a new low

Viewership for the fall finale of "Dancing with the Stars" fell to a record low, but only two shows last week drew more viewers, including its final competition episode, the week's most-watched program.

An average of 19.29 million viewers watched entertainer Donny Osmond be named champion Nov. 24, 7 percent less than the 20.65 million average for the fall 2008 finale, the previous low.

Viewership for competition series finales, and the series as a whole, typically decrease the longer they are on the air. The 2006 fall finale averaged 27.52 million and the 2007 fall finale 24.88 viewers.

The final competition episode Nov. 23 drew 20.41 million viewers, making it the most-watched program between Nov. 23 and Nov. 29, according to figures released Wednesday by The Nielsen Co. Viewership was down 3 percent from the final competition episode in fall 2008, which averaged 21.1 million viewers to be that week's most-watched program.

For the season, the two-hour Monday competition shows averaged 17.52 million viewers, 9 percent less than the 90-minute shows a year ago, but third among all series for the season. The 60-minute Tuesday result shows averaged 15.53 million, 11 percent less than the 60-minute shows a year ago, eighth among all series.

"Dancing's" final competition episode helped the week's only premiere, "Find My Family," an unscripted series which reunites families, draw 12.76 million viewers, finishing second in its 9:30-10 p.m. Monday time slot and 13th for the week.

Viewership for premieres is often unrepresentative of how a series will fare because of the heavy amount of promotion they receive. Viewers often tune in to sample a show because they are intrigued by its premise, but don't return for subsequent episodes.

In a week that mixed the final three days of the November sweeps and the Thanksgiving weekend, CBS was the most-watched network for the ninth time in the season's 10 weeks, averaging 10.44 million viewers for its prime-time programming.

CBS had seven of the week's 11 most-watched programs, topped by "NCIS," which finished second for the week with 20.35 million viewers, continuing its streak of drawing more than 20 million viewers for each original episode this season and being the most-watched scripted series each week of the season, even in reruns.

CBS also had the most-watched comedy, "The Big Bang Theory," seventh overall with a series-record 14.13 million viewers.

ABC was second, averaging 9.12 million viewers, followed by Fox Broadcasting with 7.09 million and NBC with 6.87 million viewers.

Fox was first among viewers ages 18-49, the group it ABC and NBC target and advertisers covet. NBC's "Sunday Night Football" game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers was the week's most-watched program in the category, finishing fourth overall.

The ESPN "Monday Night Football" game between the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans Nov. 23 was the week's most-watched cable program with 12.08 million viewers, which would have placed it 17th among the week's programs on the five major broadcast networks.

ESPN was the most-watched network in prime time, averaging 4.17 million viewers.

The "NBC Nightly News" was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 58th time in 59 weeks, averaging 9.68 million viewers.

ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" was second, averaging 8.19 million viewers. "The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" was third for the 166th consecutive week, averaging 6.22 million viewers.

Figures for NBC did not include Thursday, while the ABC and CBS figures did not include Thursday and Friday.

As usual, Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network, averaging 3.19 million viewers for its prime-time programming. Telemundo was in its customary second-place position, averaging 1.01 million viewers, followed by Telefutura with 970,000 and Azteca America with 200,000.

The week's most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program was the Tuesday edition of the Univision telenovela "Sortilegio," which averaged 5.25 million viewers, which would have put it 55th among programs on the five major English-language networks.

NIELSEN PRIME-TIME RATINGS

Prime-time television viewership numbers compiled by The Nielsen Co. for Nov. 23-29. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership for the week.

1. "Dancing with the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 20.41 million viewers

2. "NCIS," CBS, 20.35 million viewers

3. "Dancing with the Stars Results Show," ABC, 19.24 million viewers

4. "Sunday Night Football," NBC, 19.21 million viewers

5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 17.22 million viewers

6. "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.38 million viewers

7. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 14.13 million viewers

8. "Sunday Night Football Kickoff Show," NBC, 13.93 million viewers

9. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.88 million viewers

10. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.61 million viewers

11. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 13.22 million viewers

12. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 12.78 million viewers

13. "Find My Family," ABC, 12.76 million viewers

14. "CSI: NY," CBS, 12.68 million viewers

15. "The Good Wife," CBS, 12.53 million viewers

16. "Hallmark Hall of Fame: A Dog Named Christmas," CBS, 12.36 million viewers